Long post incoming...
To allow women without any tops, in a nutshell, yes, but if that’s all I said without giving any reasons, this really wouldn’t be a debate now would it? So I’m gonna back it up, with several paragraphs.
Quite frankly, I think it’s sexism that women are still treated like criminals for having their breasts exposed while men are not. I’m not saying those who believe that are sexists, I just feel the concept itself is. I’m fully aware that men and women are different and that women’s breasts tend to be viewed as sexual objects. However, does being different have to be a crime? Is it not America society that has turned women’s breasts into sexual objects? How does the sight of a female breast or two directly harm a person? How do large and round breasts on a female body cause damage? What about women who have flat breasts? I prefer to use the term topfree, rather than topless, to better express the ideals of freedom of a woman without her top on, rather than the more sexual meaning of topless. I didn’t make the term up, I found it elsewhere.
What do we gain from making female breasts offensive? What good comes out of being shocked from seeing a nipple on a breast attached to a female body? How does it help society at all? I say the perfect example of this was during the 2004 Super Bowl Halftime show. Yes, it was unexpected, and yes, millions of viewers were watching, including many children. It was almost like America had a meltdown, all because of a female breast. This doesn’t at all seem out there? A guy could have taken his shirt off during that event and at best there would have been a few complains. Someone could have been shot and killed during the event and I’m sure there would be less of an outburst then an exposed female breast. Kinda an over the top example, but see where I’m coming from? A sight of a body part being considered this dangerous in America compared to other stuff like physical violence is really saying a lot to me.
About men staring at breasts, it’s not like it doesn’t already happen with the cleavage of breasts being exposed or even breasts being covered altogether. Isn’t it not already bad social manners to stare at any part of a stranger? Many talk about looking at female breasts and thus feeling arousal; however, if this was such a normal thing, would it really feel like anything special after awhile? Since it isn’t currently like this in America, thinking of how this would be might be very hard. It’s not like in certain other countries of the world where women normally don’t wear tops, men are always feeling arousal.
If topfree women were a reality, female breasts won’t be something so “dirty” that you can only see them in a few select places, be it magazines, the Internet, or other places. This could greatly reduce any arousal gained from such a sight. Basically, it would be normal, and not something rare that many were jump at the chance to see. Also, not every woman is gonna be someone’s idea of a super model or “perfect” body. So, assuming a woman could legally expose her breasts, what are we gonna do, prevent any woman from going topfree that doesn’t mean the standards of beauty? So it’s more important to please those who act like they have a right to not see anyone they don’t consider beautiful, more so then a woman’s right to go topfree [if it were legal]? Just food for thought.
As for sexual crimes going up because of topfree women becoming legal, it sounds like the victim, and not the victimizer, is being blamed. So, because a man decides he wants to commit a sexual crime against a topfree woman, it’s suddenly the woman’s fault and not the man’s? It’s not his fault if he decides looking at breasts is more important than keeping his eyes on the road? “A man had no control over his sexual desire” suddenly makes the woman in the wrong?
We seriously got much worse problems then woman’s breasts if we think a man isn’t fully in the wrong for carrying out a sexual crime, especially on the grounds of “he couldn’t help himself”, regardless if a woman was in a state of dress that the man sexual liked. It reminds me of similar cases involving **** crimes, that a woman “was asking for it” and that a man “couldn’t control himself”. It’s almost like it only matters what men feel and think and not women in society. Nothing forces a man to **** a woman. A woman’s body doesn’t magically cause a man to jump on her like a wild beast and do whatever he wants to her. I don’t think the topfree movement will make much progress if people are still thinking a woman is at fault and/or that a man is in anyway justify for committing a sexual crime against said woman.
While not totally related, there are people that still get up all fired up and angry over a woman breast feeding in public. Often, women are asked to cover up with a toilet, go into a dirty restroom, or even leave the place altogether. So, the baby has to be subjected to being under a blanket or in a dirty restroom because some people act like the nipple on a woman’s breast is dangerous if seen? If the woman isn’t sitting across from them, it’s not like they have to look. Also, it’s not like the woman is trying to put on a show for men to get all existed that she has a breast exposed. Basically, America’s female breast taboo is so bad that a woman can’t even feed her child using her own body produced milk without any problems from others choosing to get offended. As for the people against breast feeding like this, it seems to usually be other women. On a side note, from what I heard, men can breast feed too, but it takes a lot more work and may or may not be as effective as a woman taking care of that task.
Well, what about the children? Won’t their lives be turned upset down if they see a pair of female breasts? Only if their taught to. It’s not like we’re born and then automatic feel shocked over female breasts, but not male breasts, especially for those who have been breastfed. We have to be taught that and I don’t mean directly like “it’s shameful for a woman to have her breasts exposed”, but indirectly, like women acting shameful over not having a top on. It’s like its ok for a girl to not have to cover up till she gets a little older and breast development begins, then suddenly, it becomes a crime to not cover up.
That’s the other issue too, body shame. What good does a low self-esteem over your own body do? How does being scared over strangers, or even friends and family, seeing certain parts of your body do you any good? I can understand not wanting any random stranger try to jump on you and do something, but what about in front of well known and trusted people? Is it because of how women’s breasts are treated like sex objects? Is our view point over female breast so narrow that they can’t possibly be anything more than objects of desire for men? Do women even own their own bodies or is their body a slave to men?! If society keeps acting like this, it’s not gonna change unless small and even baby steps start with changing the whole mind set around. Of many problems going on in society and the rest of the world, we’re still having problems with human appearances.
The majority of women for so long (at least in America) have accepted ideas like this that likely wouldn’t want to take part in taking their tops off just like men. Heck, many would be against other women wanting to do the same, usually on the grounds of the common beliefs surrounding it. There’s even women out there who are very against public breast feeding, at least if a breast is visible.
I think it’s long overdue that women stop being treated like criminals for exposing a part of their body that men can legally do so. I think it’s long overdue that men are not entirely blame for any sexual crimes they commit against women and that “they couldn’t help it” reason is considered invalid and killed on the spot. I think it’s long overdue that breasts on a woman’s body stops being treated as merely sexual desires for men. I think it’s long overdue that women are no longer taught that their breasts are “bad” and must be covered, especially so they don’t get ***** by men. I know I started off every sentence with the same line in this paragraph, but moving on…
I didn’t always think this way regarding this issue. Had I been here talking about something like this about five years ago, I might have thought like many other people on this issue. The thing is, I just accepted the common beliefs and never questioned why they were like that. Over the years, from mostly reading stuff on certain websites, I become much more of a free thinker in various issues, this being one of them. Even thinking back, I’m having a very hard time pinpointing a reason why female breasts were so “bad”.
As much as I want this to become legal, I don’t see it happening in my life time, especially when other women are sometimes the ones who put these ideas into their own heads and fight against other women who challenges what they been taught to accept. It’s not like women’s breasts will never in some way not be viewed and treated as sexual objects, it’s that I think currently, its way overboard as it currently is in America.
